All That Glitters - The Paedophiles In Paradise...!!!

All that glitters is not gold and is certainly not as good as. Many people think that we do not do enough to protect our children from paedophiles and sexual predators, who all too often, even though known to police, are still allowed the freedom to roam and ultimately abuse. Both in this country and abroad, paedophiles can still roam covertly, with a degree of protection from the authorities...

I have never personally been able to understand how a man can look at a child and think of sex. However, it is quite disturbing as to the number of men in this world who apparently do just that. It has become more and more apparent that men in all walks of society somehow like to relate to children on a sexual level. It was put to me that perhaps such men cannot help their feelings. However, this is one thing human beings can do - help our feelings. We have that power and the ability to do just that. This enables us to rule out bad feeling and inappropriate behaviour - although we may have to work at it. We must fight it and rule, rather than letting it rule us. We can all have feelings and urges in life, however we don't necessarily have to act on them, if it is at the expense of others.

There is in fact considerably more we can do to help protect the children of this world. For argument's sake, known U.K. paedophiles can still, much of the time, travel abroad quite freely to practice their abuse, with no apparent restriction or restraint. They also seem to be able to manage the same at times in this country. We have the sexual offender's register now and CRB checks are in place for pertinent posts. However, paedophiles can still slip through the net. There are further measures in place if anyone has suspicions regarding an individual, and they can report those suspicions to the police and prompt an investigation. However, one has to apply through the appropriate channels and disclosure of any previous, regarding the suspect, is not automatic or guaranteed. Paedophiles are still protected by the state it seems, and we are happy to do this at the expense of our children. The bottom line means that a known paedophile could be living next door to your children and you would be none the wiser. This may not pose a problem to your children. But, it is a fact that on occasion, children are still abducted, abused and murdered by paedophiles already known to the authorities, but not known to us. In such instances, by the non-disclosure of who they are and what they do, the welfare of the paedophile has been put over and above that of a child, who has now paid the ultimate price for our failure to adequately protect them.

In this country the measures adopted regarding paedophiles can be summed up as being a bit like letting our children play in a field which may be inhabited by snakes. We don't know for sure. Even though the authorities may know, the children and parents aren't warned even when a snake is nearby. The snakes, hidden and invisible to parents and children alike, simply wait to strike. When a child innocently wanders into its proximity, the snake will strike. Even when we catch a snake, and have it in our grasp, it is all to often released back into the field, to slither off and hide in the long grass, ready to strike again when an opportunity presents itself. Do we really do that for our children? Yes! That's how it currently is!

Many of us perhaps underestimate the psychological damage of sexual child abuse, perhaps simply because the damage is on the inside rather than on the outside. One very poignant thing that hits me time and time again is that even when elderly people recount the events of when they were abused as children, the hurt and the distress it caused them at the time is still prevalent and very apparent. They try and bury it deep within but, as they relive and recount the events of that time, it bubbles back to the surface. So much so, that even a lifetime of years later they just break down and cry as they are retelling their story. Abused children never truly escape the experience and the trauma of what happened at that time. We were supposed to be looking after and caring for them. Instead, they were abandoned. Children look to us for protection. Currently it seems we do not do enough to live up to that responsibility. Even the various churches and religions have not been immune to practising sexual child abuse. That fact is frightening. Who can you trust if you can't trust the vicar? God only knows!

One of my main gripes with regard to addressing any sort of crime (a crime being an act that does someone down and results in a victim) is that we are all too often too soft and all too often put our emphasis in the wrong place. We give too much regard to the offenders and far too little to the victims. In fact, when it comes to crime, it seems the transgressors often get more consideration than the victims. Being too lenient just encourages people to go out and do it again. When it comes to paedophiles, perhaps they should be marked in some obvious way. Unbelievably many paedophiles don't appear to be ashamed of what they are or what they do, therefore maybe they should not be ashamed to wear the mark. Although, yes, it may cramp their style a bit because everyone would know who and what they are and it would disable their ability to slither about unnoticed. Therefore they won't put their hands up voluntarily to justify their 'love', only when they get caught. By that time the damage has usually been done and another victim involuntarily joins the ranks of the abused. Nevertheless, once they have been caught we should be making absolutely sure beyond any doubt that they don't have the freedom to do it again and yet we still fail in this area! Some of us know that, without a doubt, life catches up with everyone eventually, however, in the meantime, we are still not doing enough to preserve the innocence and well-being of those that look to us for protection. The authorities worry about possible retribution where paedophiles are concerned and consequently in prison, for their protection, they have to be segregated. I personally thought it would be a great idea to round up all the paedophiles and put them on their own island somewhere, where they could work for their keep and live out their lives. Get them out of the way. Even if this island was metaphorical and wasn't actually surrounded by sea, they would be safely contained and unable to predate on our young. Yes, well, slightly impractical perhaps! Who knows! However, they could be tagged, chipped and tattooed. Yes! What a good idea!

In the past, too many people have turned a blind eye to the activities of paedophiles in our society. It is currently not an offence, not to report child abuse and paedophilic activity, but perhaps it should be, because not everybody has the moral substance to do the right thing and do just that. In the past, instances have been covered up and swept under the carpet. Children have been warned to say nothing and told that they'll get into trouble. The trend has often been for others in responsible positions to ignore the cries and complaints of abused children in favour of giving the perpetrators a virtual licence to carry on. In care homes and schools this has all too often been the case. People charged with the responsibility of looking after young people have let them down significantly. Even the church, which is supposed to uphold the value of truth, decency and honesty, and should be steadfastly standing against abuse of any sort, has failed considerably at times on all counts. Covering it up. Failing to admit and failing to deal with it. This fright of owning up and facing up has simply enabled offenders to continue their abuse undetected by the authorities.

The recent revelations about Jimmy Savile, the epitome of pop presentation and now also perhaps the epitome of paedophilic activities, severely shocked people. He was held in high regard, well known and admired for his charitable activities on behalf of children with Jim'll Fix It, etc, and his voluntary work as a hospital porter at the Stoke Mandeville, the Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor. Of course, maybe now it becomes clear as to his real motive and intent. However, it is perhaps hard to know what came first. Whether he was genuine and took advantage of the position he found himself in and the trust that ensued, or deliberately worked his way into that position for the purpose of taking advantage, is hard to say. Perhaps it was a bit of both. He may have been utterly genuine with his charitable intent but the combination of his constitution and his position meant that many young children were seriously exposed and abused.

The reverberations from our failure to deal with Jimmy Savile in this world has led to multiple arrests and charges being levied left, right and centre. Most of which have been a complete waste of time and public resource. Nevertheless, the authorities felt they must act in the aftermath and try and do something to make up for previous failings, knowing full well that we were guilty of being remiss. Lessons learned perhaps? And yet all over the world we still have massive problems with this kind of thing. Children in poorer countries are especially vulnerable due to their social circumstances and still open to potential exploitation by paedophiles. Sold into horrible life scarring experiences for a few pennies with grown men who should know and behave better. It is about time we toughened up on many things in this world and did the right thing by the good, the innocent, and the victims. If we allow known paedophiles to roam covertly and freely without warning, like snakes slithering in the long grass, we are failing children not only in this country, but all over the globe! It may be paradise for the paedophiles, but for our children, it is hell on Earth!Crosstalk by Taz: June 2014